The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Short description
Set in Czechoslovakia during the 1960s, this drama follows Tomas, a surgeon who avoids political commitment and keeps several lovers at a distance. A trip brings him together with Tereza, a young woman from the countryside who works as a photographer, and he marries her while continuing his affair with Sabina, an artist. The three become entangled as the political changes known as the Prague Spring unfold, and Soviet intervention drives them abroad. Their time in exile strains the arrangement, and Tereza's decision to return home forces Tomas to choose what matters to him. The film is based on Milan Kundera's novel.
Philip Kaufman directed and wrote the screenplay with Jean-Claude Carrière. Released in 1988, it followed The Right Stuff in Kaufman's filmography. Daniel Day-Lewis plays Tomas, Juliette Binoche plays Tereza and Lena Olin plays Sabina, with Derek de Lint, Stellan Skarsgård and Erland Josephson in supporting roles. Saul Zaentz and Paul Zaentz produced.
Made for 17 million dollars, the film earned about 10 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds a rating of 7.2 from 41,000 votes, while on TMDB it has a rating of 6.8 from 539 votes. A critics' rating of 8.3 from 29 reviews places it above both audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film is based on the novel of the same name by Milan Kundera, a French writer of Czech origin. Kundera disliked this adaptation so much that he categorically refused to participate in the film's promotional campaign.
- The first version of the film was almost two hours long, but it turned out to be incomprehensible. The film's director, Philip Kaufman, was asked to insert scenes he had previously cut. The next day, a version was ready that went into release. It is believed that Kaufman deliberately showed a short and somewhat confusing version so that he would be allowed to release the full version, lasting almost 3 hours.
- Miloš Forman (1932-2018) personally offered Philip Kaufman the opportunity to direct this film after learning of the interest major film studios were beginning to show in adapting Milan Kundera's 1982 novel. Forman himself did not dare to direct it because he had family in Czechoslovakia and feared repression, as the country was then under Soviet occupation.
- Lena Olin met the lead actor, Daniel Day-Lewis, on the first day of filming. On that very day, they had to appear nude before the camera and perform a love scene.
- The scenes depicting the Soviet Army's invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 used both documentary footage from that time and footage of a reconstruction of the events. The documentary footage was shot by young people. One of them appears in the film – he is the one being beaten by Soviet soldiers and having his filmed footage confiscated.
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